Conf  Pam  12mo  #656 

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I 


No.  20. 

THE 


W    A.    Y 


OF 


P     E    A.    C     E  . 


CHARLESTON,    S.    C: 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SOUTH  CAROLINA  TRACT  SOCIETY. 

Evans  &  Cogswell,  Printers,  No.  3  Broad  street. 


THE  WAY  OF  PEACE. 


K-&~ 


A  sinner  really  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  lost  state, 
by  nature  and  practice,  can  never  get  peace  till  he  finds 
it  in  Christ.  A  person  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  be 
alive  to  the  value  of  spiritual  things,  and  see  the  im- 
portance of  religion  ;  but  unless  he  has  been  brought 
to  receive  fully  and  cordially  all  that  the  scriptures 
declare,  in  the  plainest  and  broadest  sense,  of  the  utter 
depravity  of  man,  and  the  impossibility  of  an  unclean 
thing  bringing  forth  that  which  is  clean  (Job  xvi,  4),  I 
say,  until  he  has  been  brought  to  this,  he  will  necessa- 
rily cling,  in  some  degree,  to  his  duties,  his  prayers,  etc.; 
he  will  take  some  comfort  from  them;  and  why?  Be- 
cause, though  he  acknowledges,  with  his  lips,  that  he 
is  a  sinner,  it  is  not  in  the  full  sense  of  what  the  scrip- 
tures mean  by  a  sinner;  consequently,  he  cannot  see 
how  entirely  dependent  he  is,  and  must  be,  on  mere 
grace,  that  is  the  unmerited  favor  of  God.  But  to  this 
we  must  be  brought,  before  we  shall  accept  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ  as  altogether  sufficient  to  answer 
every  demand  that  can  be  brought  against  us.  Jesus 
said,  u  this  is  my  blood  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins."  Now,  we 
must  rely,  confide,  trust  only  and  altogether  in  this 
declaration  of  Christ,  and  believe  in  our  hearts  that 
what  He  says  is  true  concerning  the  remission,  pardon, 
putting  away  absolutely  and  for  ever  of  all  our  sins  now, 


4  THE     WAY    0F    PEACE. 

by  His  blood,  through  faith  in  His  blood,  before  we  can 
get  true  peace.  It  is  the  only  way  of  peace,  because 
it  is  the  only,  yet  altogether  sufficient,  way  of  salva- 
tion. We  may  strive  earnestly  to  get  our  mind  into 
a  proper  frame,  we  may  seek  diligently  to  have  our 
hearts  warmed,  and  to  get  dominion  over  the  world,  the 
flesh,  and  the  devil ;  but  if  we  will  not  be  comforted  till 
we  attain  to  some  state  of  feeling  in  order  to  our  being 
warranted  to  suppose  that  we  are  interested  in  the  work 
of  Christ  for  the  redemption  of  His  people,  we  never 
shall  be  comforted,  because  we  are  not  looking  singly 
and  simply  to  Him  who  said,  "  look  unto  ME  and  be 
ye  saved."  It  is  only  as  the  eye  of  faith  is  directed  and 
kept  by  the  Spirit  "  looking  to  Jesus"  as  the  full  propi- 
tiation for  sin,  that  we  can  get  any  true  peace  into  our 
souls,  and  God  has  promised  to  keep  them  in  perfect 
peace  whose  minds  are  stayed  on  Him,  which  they  are 
not,  so  long  as  we  are  continually  judging  of  our  state 
before  God  according  as  we  feel  warm  or  glowing  sen- 
sations, etc.  True  brokenness  of  heart  and  contrition 
is  the  consequence,  the  result  of  looking  to  Jesus — a  sense 
of  pardoned  sin  will  alone  teach  us  to  hate  it  and  loathe 
ourselves;  and  we  cannot  serve  God  with  filial  fear  and 
love,  till  we  know  Him  as  our  own  Father  in  Christ 
Jesus.     John  xx,  17;  Gal.  iv,  6. 

Should  this  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  who  think  they 
believe,  because,  as  they  say,  there  is  nothing  else  to  be 
believed,  I  would  affectionately  warn  them  against  rest- 
ing in  a  mere  absence  of  alarm,  and  mistaking  that  for 
the  peace  of  God.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  confident 
security,  when  there  is  no  scripture  warrant  for  it.  In 
the  78d  Psalm  we  find  the  "  foolish"  spoken  of  as  hav- 
ing   "  no   bands  in  their  death, their  strength  is 

firm,  they  are  not  in  trouble  as  other  men  "    (verses  3, 


THE    WAY    OF    PEACE.  5 

4,  5);  and  hence  they  flatter  themselves  that  all  is 
right, — they  have  done  their  duty  in  that  state  of  life  in 
which  they  were  placed  )  they  trust  in  their  Saviour,  as 
they  think,  and  their  surviving  friends  are  consoled 
with  the  consideration  that  they  received  the  sacrament 
and  died  happy.  Now,  my  friend,  whoever  it  be  that 
reads  this,  it  is  with  you  who  are  on  this  side  of  the 
grave  I  would  speak.  Perhaps  you  are  one  who  do  not 
make  much  fuss  about  religion  :  you  can't  bear  hypo- 
crisy; you  have  duties  to  perform,  and  you  perform 
them;  you  read  your  Bible, — you  go  to  church,  you 
attend  a  place  of  worship,  and  you  hope,  through  the 
mercy  of  God  and  the  merits  of  your  Saviour,  that  you 
will  go  to  heaven  when  you  die.  Oh  !  my  dear  friend,  if 
your  religion  does  not  go  beyond  this,  you  may  find, 
after  all  when  it  is  too  late,  that  to  be  earnest  in  the 
things  of  God  is  not  fanaticism,  but  the  highest  wisdom. 
You  are  lost,  and  you  want  salvation.  Salvation  is  set 
forth  in  the  Bible  as  a  present  deliverance  from  the  wrath 
to  come,  through  faith  in  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  God's 
Son.  Is  it  the  privilege  of  a  true  believer  in  Jesus  to  take  up 
the  language  of  1  Thess.  i,  10,  and  say  of  Jesus,  who  "de- 
livered us  from  the  wrath  to  come,"  i.e.,  who  hath  snatched 
us,  even  now,  as  brands  from  the  burning,  and  brought  us 
"into  a  large  place."  Psalm  xviii,  19.  Hearken,  once 
more,  not  to  my  words,  but  to  the  words  of  Jesus : 
"What  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  Matt,  xvi,  26.  "He 
that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ;  and  he 
that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life;  but  the 
wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."     John  iii,  36. 

I  pray  God  that  you  may  be  kept  from  resting  in  a 
barren  profession  of  faith,  which  gives  you  neither 
peace  in  your  soul,  nor  victory  over  the  world.     "  He 


I)  THE    WAY    OF    PEACE. 

that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God,  hath  the  witness  in 
himself."  1  John  v,  10.  Reader,  have  you  this  wit- 
ness ?  He  that  hath  it  is  happy.  Are  you  happy?  The 
way  of  peace  cannot  be  known,  till  JESUS  is  known. 
Do  you  know  Him  ? 

There  is  a  deep  reality  in  the  words  of  the  apostle, 
"if  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none 
of  his."  Rom.  viii,  9.  The  Spirit  dwells  in  them  that 
believe.  John  xiv,  16,  17.  And  this  indwelling  of  the 
Spirit  is  just  that  which  makes  all  the  difference,  be- 
tween the  "form  of  godliness"  and  the  "power;"  and 
where  He  dwells  He  makes  it  known  by  teaching  how 
God  freely  and  for  ever  justifies  that  sinner  who, 
simply  and  alone,  confides  in,  and  rolls  his  soul  upon 
the  works  of  Christ  for  him;  who  having  glorified  the 
Father  on  the  earth,  by  his  obedience  unto  -death 
(John  vii,  4),  is  now  exalted  at  God's  right  hand,  a 
quickening  Spirit  to  give  life  to  whom  He  will  (Phil, 
ii,  9;  Heb.  i,  3;  1  Cor.  xv,  45;  John  v,  21),  calling  the 
weary  to  Himself  for  rest  (Matt,  xi,  29),  and  proclaim- 
ing, in  words  of  truth  and  peace,  "  him  that  cometh 
unto  me,  I  will  in  nowise  cast  out."  John  vi,  37. 
"  This  is  the  rest  wherewith  ye  may  cause  the  weary 
to  rest,  and  THIS  is  the  refreshing."  Isa.  xxviii,  12. 
So  that,  under  the  Spirit's  teaching,  instead  of  being 
nervously  occupied  about  my  sins,  or  complacently  occu- 
pied about  my  graces,  I  get  peacefully  occupied  about 
JESUS;  the  burden  of  sin  fails  off,  and  the  peace  of 
God  rules  in  the  heart.  This  way,  I  need  not  say,  is 
"a  way  of  holiness,"  as  well  as  a  "  way  of  peace;" — 
"the  unclean  shall  not  pass  over,  it.... and  the  way- 
faring men,  though  fools,  shall  not  err  therein."  Isa. 
xxxv,  8. 


THE    WAV    OF    PEACE. 


"PEACE,  PEACE." 
Isa.  xxvi,  3.     (Margin.) 

A  mind  at  perfect  peace  with  God, 

Oh  !  what  a  word  is  this  I 
A  sinner  reconcil'd  through  blood, 

This,  this  indeed  is  peace. 

By  nature  and  by  practice  far, 

How  very  far,  from  God ; 
Yet  now,  by  grace,  brought  nigh  to  Him, 

Through  faith  in  Jesus'  blood. 

So  nigh,  so  very  nigh  to  God, 

I  cannot  nearer  be  ; 
For,  in  the  Person  of  His  Son, 

I  am  as  near  as  He.     Eph.  ii,  13. 

So  dear,  so  very  dear  to  God, 

I  cannot  dearer  be  ; 
For  th*  love  wherewith  He  loves  His  Son, 

Such  is  His  love  to  me.     John  xvii,  23. 

Why  should  I  ever  careful  be, 
Since  such  a  God  is  mine  ?     Gen, 

He  thinks  upon  me  night  and  day, 
And  tells  me   "  Mine  is  thine."* 

Oh  !  what  a  portion  have  I  then, 

The  LORD  my  portion  is  ; 
How  rich  my  state,  how  full  my  soul, 

How  sweet  a  peace  is  this. 


xvn 


*1  Cor.  iii,  22. 


THE    WAY    OF    PKACE. 

Then  keep  me,  blessed  Jesus,  keep 

Me  near  Thy  wounded  side, 
While  that  Anointing  sent  by  Thee,* 

Does  e'er  with  me  abide.     John  xiv,  16. 

So  shall  my  peace,  as  flowing  streams, 

Deep  and  unruffled  be, 
Ruling  within  my  heart,  because, 

Through  grace,  I  trust  in  Thee.f 


HYMN. 

At  thy  cross,  my  bleeding  Saviour 
I  would  ever  wish  to  stay ; 

Here  I  find  through  Sovereign  favor, 
All  my  sins  are  wash'd  awajr. 

O  this  precious  crimson  fountain, 
How  divinely  free  it  flows ! 

This  removes  each  sinful  mountain, 
This  will  drown  my  hellish  foes. 

Here  I  find  complete  redemption, 
In  the  Lamb's  atoning  blood ! 

Satan  flies  when  this  I  mention ; 
By  it  I  draw  near  to  God. 

Abel's  blood  cried  loud  for  vengeance, 
Louder  Jesus'  blood  speaks  peace ; 

When  in  glory  I  behold  Him, 
This  I'll  sing  and  never  cease. 


*  1  John  ii,  27.     f  *sa-  xxv>  *• 


PUBLISHED    BY    THE    SOUTH    CAROLINA    TRACT    SOCIETY 

Printed  by  Evans  <fe  Cogswell,  No.  3  Broad  street,  Charleston,  S.  C. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
PH8.5 


